Robert Wernick: 25 books

When the Vikings invaded and conquered England, France, and Ireland, they opened a new and fascinating chapter in their history. The nature of the beset lands, the traditions and character of their peoples, and the strengths and weaknesses of the various Viking leaders made each of these three invasions...

What in the world could be so extraordinary about pepper that men willingly died for it? If you enlarge your historical horizon a bit, and look back just a few centuries, there is nothing at all bizarre about the obstinacy of those pepper seekers. They were dealing with one of the great motive forces...

Much about the Vikings remains a mystery - including the very name by which they are known. Whatever its origin, the word Viking quickly acquired a meaning it has never lost: a seaborne rover, raider, and conqueror. But the Vikings had another side that was exceptionally creative and constructive....

Roquefort is a unique product. Anyone can make a cheese with holes in it and call it Swiss. Anyone can mix mold with curdling milk and produce a cheese that he or she can call "blue." But Roquefort is not to be confused with ordinary blue cheese. For one, it is made with ewe's milk, not cow's, and hence...

Virginia's Monticello was President Thomas Jefferson's home for the last fifty-six years of his life. The author of the Constitution of the United States spent forty of those years building it, transforming it, tearing it apart, and putting it together again. He knew and loved every inch of the house...

Here is the surprising story of Swiss hero William Tell. With one shot of his bow, writes New York Times bestselling author Robert Wernick in this essay, Tell started the centuries-long series of events that turned a few, isolated settlements of poor, backward, medieval mountaineers into the proud and prosperous modern nation of Switzerland.

It took all human knowledge as its province and required a quarter century to complete. It sold enough copies to justify being called the first commercial bestseller of modern times - and it changed the world. Here, in this short-form book by New York Times bestselling author Robert Wernick, is the remarkable history of the Encyclopédie.

A terror to the outside world, Viking longships were a source of great, understandable pride to Norsemen. At a time when the majority of men and women in the West lived and died within walking distance of their birthplaces and travel was slow and dangerous, Vikings seemed to skitter over the globe...

The Vikings thought of themselves as the ultimate warriors. But this one-dimensional image belies considerable complexity. They were, in fact, as much merchants as marauders. Among the commodities they sold was one that brought them the greatest profit of all - more than amber, silver, or pelts. That...

Perhaps the most legendary of the Vikings, Erik the Red founded a settlement in Greenland that would survive for nearly five centuries. His son Leif burned with the same desire to reach westward beyond their Scandinavian homeland. That hungering took him to the apogee of Norse explorations: America,...

The Vikings sailed to Iceland not as raiders but as settlers. They sought farmland and goods with which to trade. For the land-hungry Norwegians, the call of the new country, where vast stretches of real estate were open for the taking, must have seemed every bit as alluring as any treasure. As added...